SpaceX Completes Review of In-flight Abort Test for 2014

Below is a NASA press release announcing the completion of a review for SpaceX’s planned in-flight abort test of the Dragon capsule for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. It is interesting to note that this test will come after SpaceX has already completed a separate pad abort test earlier in the year. If both are successful, and the Falcon 9 1.1 has no other issues in upcoming flights, it is difficult to see where SpaceX would not both be in the lead for winning the next and final round of the Commercial Crew competition, and in a position to conduct a crewed flight regardless of the outcome. Full release below. RELEASE 13-314 NASA Partner SpaceX Completes Review of 2014 Commercial Crew Abort Test In preparation for a summer 2014 test, NASA partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) recently laid out its plan to demonstrate the Dragon spacecraft’s ability to carry astronauts to safety in the event of an in-flight emergency. This review of the in-flight abort test plan provided an assessment of the Dragon’s SuperDraco engines, the software that would issue the abort command, and the interface between the Dragon spacecraft and the Falcon 9 rocket on which the spacecraft will be launched. “It’s critical to have a launch abort system in which NASA and SpaceX can have confidence,” said Phil McAlister, director of Commercial Spaceflight Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “When you put humans aboard, safety and reliability are paramount and this review and the upcoming tests will help prove their space transportation system is on the right track.” Experts from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration attended the review of the in-flight abort test plan Sept. 17 at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. Attendees also had the opportunity to view the Dragon test spacecraft, which is being manufactured for an upcoming pad abort test and, potentially, the in-flight abort test. “With NASA’s support, SpaceX continues to implement the necessary modifications to equip Dragon to fly crew,” said Garrett Reisman, commercial crew project manager at SpaceX. “SpaceX and NASA believe in rigorous flight testing and we are looking forward to putting our SuperDraco launch abort system through these critical tests, starting with the pad abort test in the spring and followed by the in-flight abort test in the summer.” The in-flight abort test will take place along Florida’s space coast. During the test, a Dragon spacecraft will launch on a standard Falcon 9 rocket and an abort command will be issued approximately 73 seconds into the flight. At that point, the spacecraft will be flying through the area of maximum dynamic pressure, or Max Q, where the combination of air pressure and speed will cause maximal strain on the spacecraft. Dragon will be outfitted with about 270 special sensors to measure a wide variety of stresses and acceleration effects on the spacecraft. An instrumented mannequin, similar to a crash test dummy, also will be inside. The spacecraft’s parachutes will deploy for a splashdown in the Atlantic, where a ship will be pre-positioned for simulated rescue operations. The test spacecraft will be returned to Port Canaveral by barge so data can be retrieved and incorporated into the system’s design. SpaceX is one of three companies working under NASA’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative to develop spaceflight capabilities that eventually could provide launch services to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil. This review was the eighth milestone for SpaceX under CCiCap. The company is on track to complete all 15 of its CCiCap milestones by the summer of 2014. All of NASA’s industry partners, including SpaceX, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities.

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SpaceX will be ready to fly in the summer of 2014, so why is Nasa not ready to fly its own astronauts until 2017? It seems like a waste of money to me. Those Russian flights are not cheap. Even if there is a delay and SpaceX can`t do it until 2015. Is this the politians idea for saving money? It seems
rather foolish to me.
] rather foolishrat

When it comes to foolish look to Congress, particularly the Senate. They’ve been slow-walking Commercial Crew for years while wasting billions on boondoggles like SLS (aka the $enate Launch System) and Orion – neither of which will have flight rates sufficient to justify them.